If C. Virginia Fields has actually made up her mind to run for mayor — and her advisers say she has — here’s a central question: Who will back her?
Very little support comes as a given. But two important sets of power brokers are leaning her way. The first is obvious: the Harlem establishment, her own political grouping, led by by Charlie Rangel, Denny Farrell, and presided over in a certain way by David Dinkins.
“Charlie doesn’t want her to run, but if she’s in, he feels like he has to be with her,” said a Harlem insider.
But now apparently Rangel has given her his blessing.
“Virginia came out of a meeting saying ‘Charlie wants me to run,'” said another city Democrat.
His support comes despite the fact that some members of the Harlem group have suggested that Fields return to the City Council and take a shot at becoming Speaker, and have even floated offers of seats on corporate boards in exchange for her staying out of the race, according to the insider. David Paterson put it bluntly: “Virginia Fields creates a problem for me.”
